Atlanta - While poultry producers convene for their annual
International Poultry Exposition in Atlanta, experts from
national animal protection groups will hold a news conference to
expose the industry-wide practice of starving hens known as
forced molting.

Date: Wednesday, January 20

Time: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Place: Omni Hotel at CNN Center, bottom level in the Jarrett
Room

Roger Caras, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (ASPCA) President and former ABC-TV Special
Correspondent, will call upon egg producers to immediately end
the forced molting of their chickens, citing laws that prohibit
depriving animals of sustenance. He points out that, while
starving cats and dogs is illegal, few laws protect chickens
raised for food. Egg producers starve millions of "laying" hens
for up to 14 days at a time in order to increase their
productivity once they are again allowed access to food. Starving
the birds suppresses their immune systems and makes them (and
their eggs) more susceptible to salmonella infection.

"We take this matter extremely seriously," says Caras, the author
of more than 60 books about animals. "We will use all the power
vested in us to respond to any known instance of induced
molting." USDA immunologist Peter Holt has reported, "Molting, in
combination with a Salmonella infection, created an actual
disease state in the alimentary tract of affected hens."